Could the US Learn from Australia's Gun-Control Laws?

Clark, Helen, The Christian Science Monitor

Almost two weeks after a shooting spree stunned Australia in
1996, leaving 35 people dead at the Port Arthur tourist spot in
Tasmania, the government issued sweeping reforms of the countrys gun
laws. There hasnt been a mass shooting since. Now, after the recent
shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australias National
Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of
automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is
being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction
in Australia.

Australians have been following the Connecticut tragedy closely,
and many say the US solution lies in following Australias path, or
at least reforming current laws. But a small but vocal number of
Australias gun supporters are urging caution.

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Just 12 days after the 1996 shooting in Port Arthur, then-Prime
Minister John Howard a conservative who had just been elected with
the help of gun owners pushed through not only new gun control
laws, but also the most ambitious gun buyback program Australia had
ever seen. Some 650,000 automatic and semi-automatic rifles were
handed in and destroyed under the program. Though gun-related deaths
did not suddenly end in Australia, gun-related homicides dropped 59
percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-
firearm-related homicides. Suicides by gun plummeted by 65 percent,
and robberies at gunpoint also dropped significantly. Many said
there was a close correlation between the sharp declines and the
buyback program.

A paper for the American Law and Economics Review by Andrew Leigh
of the Australian National University and Christine Neill of the
Wilfrid Laurier University reports that the buyback led to a drop in
the rearm suicide rates of almost 80 percent, "with no significant
eect on non-rearm death rates. The eect on rearm homicides is of
similar magnitude but is less precise.

Perhaps the most convincing statistic for many, though, is that
in the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there were 11 mass
shootings in the country. Since the new law, there hasnt been one
shooting spree. In the wake of the shooting, polls indicated that up
to 85 percent of Australians supported the measures taken by the
government.

In the wake of the Newtown shooting, several Australian
politicians are now suggesting that the US adopt Australias gun
laws. I implore you to look at our experience, Labor Member of
Parliament Kelvin Thomson wrote in an open letter to US Congress
that he also posted on his official website. …

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